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Nga Aho Whakaari, a group representing Maori in film and television, is calling on Television New Zealand to extend Friday’s deadline for bids to produce its Maori programmes.
The broadcaster gave independent producers just one week to put in their proposals to take over Waka Huia and Marae Investigates.
Spokesperson Kim Muriwai says the unrealistic deadline won’t help to generate well-researched, quality programming.
It also doesn’t square with TVNZ CEO Kevin Kenrick’s promise to look after existing Maori staff as much as possible, because they don’t have time to put together proposals to produce the shows themselves.
Ms Muriwai also questioned broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho’s support for a process that seems to be setting up Maori production companies for failure.
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